Simulation and Analysis of Perceptual-Motor Skill Training

Abstract

This paper examines the application of order-or-processing networks to the simulation of performance of a complex skill, the copying of high-speed Morse code. A sequence of processing stages and memory buffers is described that is presumed, on the basis of earlier work, to represent the task. Two models of this sequence, distinguished by their assumptions regarding concurrent processing of characters, are also presented. Simulations were run on these models to find the parameters that yielded the best fit to performance data from 19 students undergoing the early stages of military Morse code training. The implications of the results to an analysis of early performance and the potential benefits of applying the same technique to data obtained from students late in training are discussed.

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